Mack Wilson becomes the latest player to say Bill Belichick and Nick Saban are "the same person"

FOXBORO -- It's no surprise that Bill Belichick and Nick Saban -- two of the best football coaches at their respective levels -- are great friends. Their relationship goes back 40 years, and the two all-time greats are eerily similar in a lot of aspects.

Both are absolutely obsessed with football. They watch obscene amounts of film and have a unique eye for the game, often noticing little things that few other coaches would. Neither of them mince words with their players, but they're also incredible teachers of the game.

The two worked together when Belichick hired Saban as his defensive coordinator in Cleveland in 1991, but their relationship started a decade earlier when Saban worked for Belichick's father at the Naval Academy. And while they went their separate ways after four years together with the Browns, they've remained close confidants.

While Belichick has dominated the NFL with six Super Bowl titles with the Patriots, Saban has enjoyed incredible success at the NCAA level, winning seven National Championships (six at Alabama and one at LSU) over his storied career.

Belichick has made it a point to bring Saban's players to New England. He's drafted over a dozen of them, and even if he doesn't draft them, he'll often times finds a way to get them on the Patriots roster. And when asked about the two coaches and their similarities, players always have the same comment.

"They both, honestly, are the same person," New England linebacker Mack Wilson told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche in a sitdown for Patriots 1st Down. 

Dont'a Hightower, another former Crimson Tide linebacker turned Patriots linebacker, had the same assessment countless times throughout his career in New England. Anyone you ask who played for both Saban and Belichick will agree.

"Before I became a Patriot, just based on the outside looking in, I could tell that coach Belichick and coach Saban were kind of the same," said Wilson. "When coach Belichick would come to Pro Days, I could see how they interacted and thought, 'Yeah, they're twins.'"

While it's not easy playing for either, no one has complained. Saban prepares his players to succeed at the next level, and Belichick gets the most out of them in the pros.

"It's been a blessing to play under one of the greatest coaches in college football and now one of the greatest coaches in the NFL," said Wilson. "I have a lot of great stories to tell my kids one day when I'm done playing ball. I've been blessed to learn a lot from both of them."

It hasn't been a great season for Belichick and the Patriots this year, as they sit in last place in the AFC with a 2-8 record. Wilson doesn't think Belichick deserves the amount of heat that he's been receiving for New England's struggles.

"It's tough. From the outside looking in, people don't really understand what goes on in this business, or really understand what goes on on Sundays," he said. "We are not what our record is. I understand we are 2-8, but we're not a bad team. We just lost some close games."

Winning close games is usually the sign of a good team, and the Patriots hope to start doing that when they return from their bye week. Wilson will be a free agent after the season, and hopes that he has more than seven games left in his New England career.

"I would love to stay here. I feel like I've grown as a player tremendously over the past year and a half. I've made a lot of connections and feel like I'm a great asset for this org. Its all about building from here on out and being asset for this org, this team, and this community."

Tune in to Patriots 1st Down every Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. on TV38!